Middle Orient

ISRAEL ON Wednesday expanded its ground offensive in Lebanon, and Hizbollah’s leader vowed to turn southern Lebanon into a graveyard for Israeli troops and unleash more rockets on the city of Haifa.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Four weeks into an offensive that has failed to stop Hizbollah rocket attacks, the Israeli military has changed a top commander of its Lebanon war effort in a blow to the pride of the Jewish state’s army.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Almost 2,000 bodies were taken to Baghdad’s morgue in July, the highest tally in five months of rising sectarian bloodshed which has forced the United States to boost troop levels in the capital to head off a civil war.

Jordan to treat Palestinians affected by suspect powder   AN ISRAELI AIR strike in Gaza City on Wednesday killed three people, including a five-year-old girl, and wounded two others, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.

BEIRUT — Weeks after the sea exodus of Westerners from Lebanon, hundreds of poor migrant workers are leaving daily by bus to escape Israeli bombardment even if they face more war at home.

TYRE — The artillery fire echoing at the city gates of this south Lebanese port has revived barely buried memories for its people, as Israeli troops battle Hizbollah fighters in the surrounding hills.

PARIS — Lebanese reporters based in Paris — willing to share their experience of the region’s wars and brimming contact books — have set up a one-stop-shop to help foreign colleagues cover the conflict with Israel.

DUBAI — When Arab news channels raced to cover Israel’s retaliation against Hizbollah’s capture of two soldiers on July 12, they had little idea that they were in for a long, all-out war.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the US and Britain are well informed that the equations of balance have changed in the Middle-East.

TYRE (Agencies) — Israel shut down road traffic in south Lebanon on Tuesday, declaring a no-drive zone below the Litani River and threatened to blast any moving vehicle as a target. Only pedestrians ventured into the streets of Tyre and country roads and highways were deserted throughout the region.